Caleb-1 Month Old

Caleb turned one month on June 2, 2013. This is for his future baby book and for my memory :)

You weigh about 12 pounds.

You are not really on a schedule but nursing every 2-2.5 hours.

You wake up twice a night to nurse and sleep in our room.

You wear size 1 diapers and 3 month clothes. You only wore newborn diapers and clothes for a bout a week.

You become fussy/upset in the late evening when you are tired.

Luke adores you and wants to hold you often.

You took your first bottle at 3 weeks old.

TWO MONTHS:

You weigh 13 pounds 11.5 oz.

You take several catnaps and one 2-3 hour nap (same time as big brother!!).

You only wake up once at night between 3am-4am. You sleep 830pm-730am.

Your first smile was exactly at 6 weeks. Laughing happened just days after!

We went to Bend and you cried almost the whole way; you hate your carseat.

You eat every three hours during the day.

You are actually okay with tummy time.

Sleep Training

Sweet Luke, 16 months old, has stopped napping. He is cranky, overtired, clumsy and NEEDS sleep. Desperately. He needs to LEARN to sleep on his OWN (something we did not teach him to do).

Yes, we messed up; we let him nap in his swing till he was ONE! Would I have done it differently? I'm not sure. Should we not have napped together? I wouldn't trade that for ANYTHING! But, here we are. We can get caught up in what we have done wrong and label ourselves as failures... but... I am not going to allow myself to do that anymore. We are choosing to do something that will help Luke for the rest of his life. He is going to learn to sleep.

I had a consult last week for thirty minutes with a pediatric sleep specialist. We have tried everything and felt this was the best choice for our family. We decided to not do a "full package" (with an immense amount of follow up), because of the cost. After the first couple days of sleep training (on our own... with lots of advice from friends and family), we decided we couldn't do it alone. We hired Whitney to support us, tweak his schedule, etc. This may seem CRAZY to people out there. At this point, I feel SO confident we are doing the right thing for him and it will be worth every single penny.

I can count on one hand how many times he has gone to sleep and has woken up happy. This breaks my heart.

This is such a controversial and private decision to sleep train; yet, I want to have a record of our journey...

There are so many tips Whitney has given us... some of them are (this is for a 16 month old health child):

• He needs 11-12 hours of uninterrupted night sleep. (He gets about ten... he needs more)
• Typically kids his age should go to bed between 6pm and 7pm and wake up between 6am and 7am. 
• He needs 2-3 hours of sleep during the day. (He currently sleeps thirty minutes)
• No nursing to sleep... (as we have stopped this, he has basically weaned himself. I am only nursing him when he wakes up, AFTER 6am)
• Get the room ready WITH Luke for nap and bed time. We close the curtains together, turn on the sound machine together, and then do the EXACT same, predictable routine each nap time and bed time. (Ours is: 2 books, 1 song, hugs and kisses)
• Do all loving/hugging/kissing outside of the crib. (We were patting him or putting our hand on his chest)

Hopefully only a few days of the crying will happen. Whitney says naps are the hardest, which is Luke's biggest struggle. We are not going ANYWHERE or having any guests stay at our house for two weeks. We are committed to this process!!! :)

One Year Old!

You are One Year Old!

-You weigh 18 pounds, 10 ounces (5th percentile) and you are 29.25 inches long (40th percentile)

-You have lost some weight so we are adding fats to your food and transitioning you to whole milk. This is a LOT harder than I ever thought it would be. You are now only nursing in the morning and at night. It has taken you a few weeks to even really try the milk (even with 50% breast milk). We go back to the doctor at the end of the month for a weight check.

-You now usually sleep through the night but wake up at 5:30 am... Too early! I nurse you (this is your morning nursing session) and MOST of the time you go back to sleep for an hour or so.

-You also have dropped your morning nap. This is also a transition... Your afternoon naps anywhere from 30 min to 1.5 hours.

-Your favorite foods are fruits and veggies. You tried artichoke tonight and liked it! It's easier to get you to eat cucumber than it is ice cream. We must not be related!! ;-)

-You can get up to walk and go everywhere. Still no crawling! You have had a few hard falls, which breaks my heart!

-You had an AWESOME first birthday party.... Will write that out next!

WE LOVE YOU SWEET BOY!

11 Months!

You are almost ONE YEAR OLD! How did that happen? I cannot believe I say this every month to you... I fall in love with you and enjoy you more every single day. You are the sweetest boy!

This is what you are up to:

• Wear size 4 diapers, 12 month clothes from Carters (they are a little big still!) a size 3 shoe
• You weigh around 19 pounds (not sure how long you are!)
• For the first time in ELEVEN months, you slept through the night! (7pm to 630am) I was literally thanking God all day long!
• You are consistently taking two naps a day. (one around 930 am and 130pm) You wake up after an hour, so in the afternoon I put you in your swing and you sleep for at least an extra hour. (Do they make swings for toddlers???)
• You are night weaned! We worked on this last week. Daddy would come in your room when you woke up and offer you a sippy cup of water. You will wake up once a night and he goes in and holds you and offers you the water. I think he enjoys this snuggle time and you are totally okay with this (before you only wanted to nurse!) I think this was because you were ready! I am SO thankful we didn't really have to do much cry it out. Now that you are not nursing at night, you are sleeping a lot better. I do really miss those cuddle times at night, but I cannot believe how good sleep feels!
• You still nurse 4 times a day... I am not sure when we will wean; if you wean yourself (before you are 18 of course), or if I will nudge you along. I had no idea how much we would both love this experience.
• You have started walking! You are getting more confident each day... You have taken up to 20 ish steps at a time but you will not start on your own.
• We gave you a baby doll and you have started giving her kisses. It is SO adorable! Then you will give us kisses. It. Melts. My. Heart.
• You are a TOTAL mama's boy (yes, I secretly love this even if it means I have NO space!) We are working on you playing by yourself for times throughout the day.
• You absolutely love your Grandpa. We went to Bend a few weekends ago and you reached for him and cried when we were leaving. It is so special that you will have this incredible relationship.
• Everyday when Daddy gets home and we hear the garage door you get really excited. You squeal with delight when he comes home.
• You have two more teeth on the top. This has been rough this month. You have been chewing on your fingers, making them raw... We are encouraging a paci.
• You finally need a haircut. We want that hair to keep sticking up on its own, so without gel, we think it might need to be shorter :-) Plus, your hair is past your ears!

This is what happened when we tried to lay you down next to your giraffe... You love to be on the move!

think I will do a 12 month update and then be done with the updates... I am keeping a baby book, and email account for you, and making a yearly book for you so I need to narrow this process down!

10 Months!

Hi Sweet Boy-

You are ten months old today! Where is the time going? You have made some changes this month; this is what you are up to:

• You say "mama" anytime you want anything. If you want more food, if you are hungry, thirsty, or want something that we have you say "mama" over and over and over. It's adorable.
• You want to walk EVERYWHERE. This would be fine, except it is KILLING my back! Daddy had a bright idea to scoot around in the office chair to let you walk... He is one smart cookie.
• You are cruising on furniture and pulling yourself up very well.

• You still do not crawl. We still think you might skip it!
• You wave hi and bye all the time.
• You are eating almost everything we eat. You can sign "all done" and when you are done, you mean it. :-) You LOVE apples, green beans, shredded cheese, and water.
• You are sleeping okay... you still wake up to nurse 1-2 times a night. (Yes, I am tired! But, I wouldn't change anything!) You wake up around 645 am and nap from 9-1030 and 1-230. Lately you have been taking three-one hour naps. I haven't been napping with you, so you don't tend to sleep as long in the afternoon.
• You are a total mama's boy. You want me 99% of the time and you throw a mini fit until you get me. We are working on this...
• You are pretty easy going and calm and quiet.
• People stop us when we are out and about and ALWAYS comment on your hair! It sticks straight up and we love it!
• You wear 12 months Carters clothes now and 6-12 month Old Navy clothes. You wear a size three diaper. You are nursing 4-5 times a day and eating breakfast, lunch and dinner and a snack.

My heart still explodes daily because I love you so much. You are the sweetest thing!

9 Months!

Luke,

You are NINE MONTHS old! Honestly, I cannot believe you are almost ONE YEAR OLD! It seems like you are just doing more and more each week and you are picking up skills so quickly. Here are some stats from your 9 month well check:

• You weigh 18 pounds 3.5 ounces (15th percentile)
• You are 27.75 inches long (30th percentile)
• You are babbling a ton; you say baba baba all day with a few mama's. We think you might call balls baba because whenever you have a ball you say that sound. You also LOVE balls!
• You are sleeping better! You wake up once a night and I nurse you... sometimes you wake up twice.
• You take a morning nap at 9am (usually for like an hour and 15 minutes), and an afternoon nap from 1-3pm. The only hitch with this nap is I have to sleep with you in order for you to sleep two hours... Most of the time, I don't mind this... I love cuddling!
• You go to sleep around 7pm and wake up around 7am.

• You still wear a size 3 diaper and 9 month Carters clothes. You are in 6-12 month Old Navy clothes. They are starting to get a little tight!
• You have started really wanting mama most of the time. You want to be held a lot and if you see me, you really want me. It's a little hard to get things done, but I am not complaining... The floors and bathrooms can wait!

• We think you might start walking before you crawl. You have not started pulling up on furniture or your crib yet. If we would walk with you, you would walk ALL DAY LONG!
• You just started clapping your hands together!
• You still nurse 4-5 times a day and eat three meals and oatmeal at night. We have started giving you tiny pieces of food in your highchair. You really love cheese and bread... (Your daddy LOVES cheese and I love bread... maybe it's genetic?) You also have tried french fries thanks to your daddy... you love them.
• You love to drink water out of a straw.
• Bath time is your favorite time of day hands down. Sometimes if you are fussy in the evenings, we go to bath early. You are content to stay there for an hour!
• I now am basically staying home with you. My dream come true! We are making sacrifices and they are SO worth it! We know this is the right decision for you and our family!

Seriously, you are such a sweet boy. We fall in love with you more and more each day!

8 Months!

Luke,

Time is flying by! You are 8 months old as of 11/25/11. You have changed so much in this last month!

• You wear size 3 Target brand diapers
• You are in 9 month Carter's clothes
• You have gotten TWO teeth on the bottom, but you refuse to let us look at them.
• You love to stand up on our ottomans, you are so proud of yourself!
• You put your paci in like it is just no big deal! Such a BIG boy!

• You were sleeping horribly... we went to Bend for Thanksgiving and you were up a lot. We did a modified cry it out (let you cry for 10 minutes, reassure you, do it again and again. Finally you put yourself to sleep and slept until 4am. I nursed you and you slept again till 7am.
• You generally take two 1.5 hour naps a day in your CRIB!! Sometimes, you will take a 45 minute nap in your swing in the late afternoon.
• You are nurse 5 times during the day and 1 time in the night. You eat 3-4 solid meals a day. You love drinking water out of a sippy cup with a straw!

• You started eating puffs! Cutest. Thing. Ever!!
• You have started to wave hi and bye!

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